ML20136G539
| ML20136G539 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/04/1985 |
| From: | Thomas Nicholson NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) |
| To: | Imhoff E COMMERCE, DEPT. OF, NATIONAL OCEANIC & ATMOSPHERIC |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8511220387 | |
| Download: ML20136G539 (9) | |
Text
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' RES Filej
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Edgar.A. Imhoff, Chief r.r:mt
.3,
-Office of Water Data. Coordination r.u c u w no.
WGS--Mail Stop 417.
ouwr U.S.-Geological Survey Re turn hac-s/s l
i Reston, Virginia 22092 to nEs, Yes tro
Dear Mr. Imhoff:
As requested please find enclosed our responses to your questionnaire for the "FY 1986 Federal Plan for Water Data Acquisition".
Please note that our response to question 1 was "N/A" (net applicable) since our agency does not ~
have a specific water resource program and as an independent agency we were
.previously exempted from providing budget figures. Also please note the enclosure which =is a revision-of last year's NRC entry in the Federal Plan.
Thomas J. Nicholson Earth Sciences Branch Division of Radiation Programs and Earth Sciences-Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Enclosure:
. Questionnaire for the "FY 1986 Federal
. Plan for Water Data Acquisition" Distribution /R-2811:
C
/Chron
.RMinogue
-Econti PDR Dross
-LBeratan E.Sbj/Rd KGoller-RKornasiewicz
~
- C511220387 PDR OFC
- DRPES/ESB-
- DRPES/
- D ESB:
NAME:TNicholson :Kornasiewicz:LBeratan :
DAhE$
l((0UbE b[o
[
a,/ W W
rT3 -
j QUESTIONNAIRE i
f Agency:
11.$. Nilfl FAR RFRifl ATORY CnMMISSION Date:
nCTnnrR 11. 1ons Individual: THnMAS
.1.
NICHol enn Phone: fin 1) a?7_anto Alternate:
MyRnN FI TFCFI Phone: (an1) a?7_anoa 1.
Estimated Costs and Budget Requests a.
ALL WATER-RESOURCES PROGRAMS. An estimate of the total annual cost of Federal water-resources programs is needed to place the water data acquisition activities in perspective with the large water-resources programs the data supports. This figure was over $6 billion for the Federal Government in FY 1984 N /A Estimated total cost for your agency's entire water-resources effort in FY 1985, including data acquisition. (Round to the nearest $500,000.)
b.
LONG-TERM DATA COLLECTION AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES. Please report funding for data collection and exchange programs that are included under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-67 and are supported entirely or in part by your agency. The programs include existing or planned field data collection, transmission, initial processing, and dissemination. Funding should be reported for data which describe quantity and quality characteristics of water collected from streans, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and ground waters. Costs for laboratory activities associated with analyzing water samples for chemical, phys-ical, and biological characteristics should also be included. Some agencies obtain water-related data as an adjunct to programs covered under Circular A-67--
for example, water content of snowpack or special purpose rainfall data.
If the associated funding for these subordinate data cannot be identified separately for purposes of reporting, please include total funding for such programs in your response for this question. Programs that primarily address data excluded under Circular A-67 are not to be reported. Please report only progfams greater than $100,000 For smaller programs, just indicate "less than $100,000."
Estimated FY 1987 budget request for your agency's water N/A data acquisition programs as described above.
(Round to the nearest $100,000.)
c.
NEW DATA FROM SHORT-TERM INVESTIGATIONS.
If, in addition to the program costs reported in Ib, your agency funds hydrologic investigations or studies that involve the collection of new field data, please estimate that portion of the studies' tntal costs attributable to new date collection.
If this kind of water data acquisition amounts to "less than $100,000," so indicate.
Estimated FY 1987 budget request for new field data collection N/A as described above.
(Round to the nearest $100,000.)
l i
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e
---,,_,.__----_-.-..,.-----.._.,,-.--..--n-_.
2.
Ag2ncy data needs--base program and changes (1985-1987). Provide an integrated statement of your water resources responsibilities--what and why. Also, describe major water data dependencies and relationships with other agencies.
l Agency Data Needs--Base Procram and Changes (1985-1987). NRC was established by Congress under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. The primary goal of NRC in licensing and regulating nuclear reactors is to assure the health and safety of the public and to protect the environment. Similarly, NRC has the charge of insuring safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastes by licensing nuclear activities and facilities, and by protecting the public against the hazards of low-level radioactive emissions and releases from the licensed i
I nuclear activities and facilities.
To accomplish its mission, NRC requires that an applicant for a construction permit and an operating license for a nuclear facility provide a variety of data about the maximum hydrologic events that may potentially affect the l
safety-related facilities and the site (e.g., hurricanes, river floods, low rivcr flows, dam failures, precipitation, droughts, tsunamis, etc.), assuring an adequate safety-related water supply, and analyzing environmental effects caused by construction and operation of these facilities.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was amended to limit the discharge of radioactive liquid effluents into ground and surface waters and to protect nuclear facilities from flooding. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 was also amended to limit the discharge of radioactive effluents into ground and surface waters. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 directs NRC to promulgate criteria for the licensing of High-level Waste geologic repositories. NRC has responsibility to review DOE submittals up to and including the actual licensing applications. The NRC will then grant a license based upon this review. Although much of the water data submitted to NRC is from previously published sources, some is collected by applicant or licensee monitoring programs. These monitoring programs are reviewed by NRC staff with occasional confirmatory sampling by NRC regional inspection personnel. The periods of record and parameters monitored are site-specific and involve both safety and environmental concerns.
The NRC base program for water-data acquisition addresses the overall'
~
licensing programs and NRC organizational goals. The NRC program does not involve direct field data collection; rather, it involves review and analysis of data provided by licensees, contractors, and other government agencies.
In order to understand and adequately review hydrologic issues, the NRC has either funded or collaborated with other Federal agencies in funding technical assistance and research contracts. The NRC staff effort involves monitoring the work being performed under contractual agreements with private consultants, national laboratories, universities, and other government agencies.
The NRC short term program plans support licensing activities. The principal topiqs addressed in both staff analyses and contractor assistance work are ground-water contamination pathway analyses, hydrodynamic measurements, analysis of flood hazards, and hurricane surge monitoring.
In high-level waste management, research projects dealing with ground-water transport of radionuclides in porous and fractured rock, unsaturated flow and transport in fractured rock and hydrogeologic site characterization techniques are being 2
~
2 Agency data needs--base program and changes (1985-1987).
Provide an integrated statement of your water resources responsibilities--what and why.
with other agencies.Also, describe major water data dependencies and relationsh p
d Continued funded. Specific projects for site characterization techniques are ground-water dating, geochemical laboratory and field studies, in-situ geologic and hydrologic measurement verification, and unsaturated zone instrumentation and analysis techniques.
In low-level waste management, studies are concerned with ground-water flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone and related site monitoring techniques in near surface, unconsolidated materials. Stochastic analysis of solute transport in unsaturated soils, site characterization techniques, verification studies at specific low-level waste facilities, quality control of water-data measurements and studies of chemical speciation and mobility are being conducted.
In reactor siting, the greatest use of water data will be in analysis of water data independently collected by the licensees at commercial reactor sites.
These analyses also utilize water data previously collected by the U.S.
Geological Survey and t!.e Corps of Engineers.
Studies of uranium milling and nining facilities, including Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Programs sites, are concerned with methods to minimize ground-water contamination from uranium recovery operations. Model evaluation of seepage from uranium tailing disposal above and below the water table and aquifer restoration at in-situ leach uranium mines involve ground-water flow and transport studies.
l l
l 3
3.
Identify and describe any major new legislation, court decisions, or
^
other actions 5ffet. ting your planned data program for 1987 and beyond.
I NONE W
I u
O O
1 s
e 4
=
\\
e l
4 Future data needs and plans,1988, arid beyond.
s s '
s FukureDataNeedsandPlans(1988andBeyond). The NRC long-term programs dealing with water data and water-data acquisition will evolve to keep pace with the needs of the nuclear industry.
In the area ofshigh-level waste (HLW) management,ssork will concentrate on environmentali'nd safety assessments a
' including mo'deling' studies for HLW repository sites. ' Review of hydrologic data and interpreted results by DOE, USGS, and other Federal agency and subcontractor studies of potential HLW sites will involve NRC staff and contractor analysis. Similarly, low-level waste management, work will center on shallow land burial site assessment closure procedures to control-and minimize infiltratios and the assessment of alternative disposal techniques.
A field validation study of' stochastic hydrogeologic methods was recently begun for shallow land burial. applications. Work on stochastic methods for assessing the probabilitie's of severe hydrologic events at nuclear reactor sites has also begun.
Future work will concentrate on enhancement and testing of the developed methodology using selected watershed data.
c ss x
\\
S e
I i
(
l l
l 5
l l
G
Agency Data Needs--Base Procram and Changes (1985-1987). NRC was established by Congress under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. The primary goal of NRC in licensing and regulating nuclear reactors is to assure the health and safety of the public and to protect the environment. Similarly, NRC has the charge of insuring safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastec by 10.ensing nuclear activities and facilities, and by protecting the public a9:Sst the hazards of low-level radioactive emissions and releases from the licensed nuclear activities and facilities.
To accomplish its mission, NRC requires that an applicant for a construction permit and an operating license for a nuclear facility provide a variety of data about the maximum hydrologic events that may potentially affect the safety-related facilities and.the site (e.g., hurricanes, river floods, low river flows, dam failures, precipitation, droughts, tsunamis, etc.), assuring an adequate safety-related water supply, and analyzing environmental effects caused by construction and operation of these facilities.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was amended to limit the discharge of radioactive liquid effluents into ground and surface waters and to protect nuclear facilities from flooding. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 was also amended to limit the discharge of radioactive effluents into ground and surface waters. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 directs NRC to promulgate criteria for the licensing of High-Level Waste geologic repositories. NRC has responsibility to review DOE submittals up to and including the actual licensing applications. The NRC will then grant a license based upon this review. Although much of the water data submitted to NRC is from previously published sources, some is collected by applicant or licensee monitoring programs. These monitoring programs are reviewed by NRC staff with occasional confirmatory sampling by NRC regional inspection personnel. The periods of record and parameters monitored are site-specific and involve both safety and environmental concerns.
The NRC base program for water-data acquisition addresses the overall
-licensing programs and NRC organizational goals. The NRC program does not involve direct field data collection; rather, it involves review and analysis of data provided by licensees, contractors, and other government agencies.
In order to understand and adequately review hydrologic issues, the NRC has either funded or collaborated with other Federal agencies in funding technical ~
assistance and research contracts. The NRC staff effort involves monitoring the work being perfomed under contractual agreements with private consultants, national laboratories, universities, and other government agencies.
The-NRC short term program plans support licensing activities. The principal topics addressed in both staff analyses and contractor assistance work are
-ground-water contamination pathway analyses, hydrodynamic measurements, analysis of flood hazards, and hurricane surge monitoring.
In high-level waste management, research projects dealing with ground-water transport of radionuclides in porous and fractured rock, unsaturated flow and transport in fractured rock and hydrogeologic site characterization techniques are being 6
L Continued funded. Specific projects for site characterization techniques are ground-water dating, geochemical laboratory and field studies, in-situ geologic and hydrologic measurement verification, and unsaturated zone instrumentation and analysis techniques.
In low-level waste management, studies are concerned with ground-water flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone and related site monitoring techniques in near surface, unconsolidated materials. Stochastic analysis of solute transport in unsaturated soils, site characterization techniques, verification studies at specific low-level waste facilities, quality control of water-data measurements and studies of chemical speciation and mobility are being conducted.
In reactor siting, the greatest use of water data will be in analysis of water
~
data independently collected by the licensees at commercial reactor sites.
These analyses also utilize water data previously collected by the U.S.
Geological Survey and the Corps nf Engineers.
Studies of uranium milling and mining facilities, including Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Programs sites, are concerned with methods to minimize ground-water contamination from uranium recovery operations. Model evaluation of seepage from uranium tailing disposal above and below the water table and aquifer restoration at in-situ leach uranium mines involve ground-water flow and transport studies.
h 7
w g.
Future Data Needs and Plans (1988 and Beyond). The NRC long-term programs dealing with water data and water-data acquisition will evolve to keep pace with the needs of the nuclear industry.
In the area of high-level waste (HLW) management, work will concentrate on environmental and safety assessments including modeling studies for HLW repository sites. Review of hydrologic data and interpreted results by DOE, USGS, and other Federal agency and subcontractor studies of potential HLW sites will involve NRC staff and contractor analysis. Similarly, low-level waste management work will center on shallow land burial site assessment closure procedures to control and minimize infiltration and the assessment of alternative disposal techniques.
A field validation study of stochastic hydrogeologic methods was recently begun for shallow land burial applications. Work on stochastic methods for assessing the probabilities of severe hydrologic events at nuclear reactor sites has also begun. Future work will concentrate on enhancement and testing of the developed methodology using selected watershed data, i
l O
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I i
8
NOV 0 4 7985 Edgar A. Imhoff, Chief Office of Water Data Coordination WGS--Mail Stop 417 U.S. Geological Survey Reston, Virginia 22092
Dear Mr. Imhoff:
As requested please find enclosed our responses to your questionnaire for the "FY 1986 Federal Plan for Water Data Acquisition".
Please note that our response to question 1 was "N/A" (not applicable) since our agency does not have a specific water resource program and as an independent agency we were previously exempted from providing budget figures. Also please note the enclosure which is a revision of last year's NRC entry in the Federal Plan.
Thomas J. Nicholson Earth Sciences Branch Division of Radiation Programs and Earth Sciences Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
Enclosure:
Questionnaire for the "FY'1986 Federal Plan for Water Data Acquisition"
_ Distribution /R-2811:
Circ /Chron RMinogue Econti DCS/@j/Rd Dross LBeratan ESB Sb KGoller RKornasiewicz OFC: DRPES/ESB
- DRPES/
- D ESB:
-NAME:TNicholson :Kornasiewicz:LBeratan o
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.. _ _ _. - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _h_._.f:
11/04 /86 : il/o DATE: W d /'f/ W m
-a n-+
-y
f4,.
.s c
ij QUESTIONNAIRE f-Agency:
til unri FAR RFGill ATORY rnMMf RSION Date:
nrTnRFR 11. 10At; Individual: THnMAR 1 NirHol snu Phone: !an1) 497_anto Alternate:
MynnN FIIFGFI Phone: fan 1) 497_anoa 1.
Estimated Costs and Budget Requests a.
ALL WATER-RESOURCES PROGRAMS. An estimate of the total annual cost of Federal water-resources programs is needed to place the water data acquisition activities in perspective with the large water-resources programs the data l
supports. This figure was over $6 billion for the Federal Government in FY 1984.
N/A Estimated total cost for your agency'!, entire water-resources effort in FY 1985, including data acquisition.
(Round to the nearest $500,000.)
+
b.
LONG-TERM DATA COLLECTION AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES. Please report funding for data collection and exchange programs that are included under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-67 and are supported entirely or in part by i
your agency. The programs include existing or planned field data collection, transmission, initial processing, and dissemination. Funding should be reported for data which describe quantity and quality characteristics of water collected from streams, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and ground waters. Costs for laboratory activities associated with analyzing water samples for chemical, phys-ical, and biological characteristics should also be included.' Some agencies obtain water-related data as an adjunct to programs covered under Circular A-67--
for example, water content of snowpack or special purpose rainfall data.
If the associated funding for these subordinate data cannot be identified separately t~
for purposes of reporting, please include total funding for such programs in your response for this question. Programs that primarily address data excluded under Circular A-67 are not to be reported, Please r1rport only programs greater than $100,000. For smaller programs, just indicate "less than $100,000."
l ufA Estimated FY 1987 budget request for your agency's water data acquisition programs as described above.
(Round to the l
nearest $100,000.)
c.
NEW DATA FROM SHORT-TERM INVESTIGATIONS.
If, in addition to the program costs reported in Ib, your agency funds hydrologic investigations.or studies that involve the collection of new field data, please estimate that portion of the studies' total costs attributable to new data collection.
If this kind of water data acquisition amounts to "less than $100,000," so indicate, i
Estimated FY 1987 budget request for new field data collection n/A as described above.
(Round to the nearest $100,000.)
i
~
e e
=
2.
Agency data needs--base program and changes (1985-1987). Provide an integrated statement of your water resources responsibilities--what and why. Also, describe major water data dependencies and relationships with other agencies.
Agency Data Needs--Base Proaram and Changes (1985-1987. NRC was established by Congress under the Energy Reorganization Act of The primary goal of NRC in licensing and regulating nuclear reactors is to assure the health and safety of the public and to protect the environment. Similarly, NRC has the charge of insuring safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastes by licensing nuclear activities and facilities, and by protecting the public against the hazards of low-level radioactive emissions and releases from the licensed nuclear activities and facilities.
To accomplish its mission, NRC requires that an applicant for a construction pennit and an operating license for a nuclear facil.ity provide a variety of data about the maximum hydrologic events that may potentially affect the safety-related facilities and the site (e.g., hurricanes, river floods, low river flows, dam failures, precipitation, droughts, tsunamis, etc.), assuring an adequate safety-related water supply, and analyzing environmental effects caused by construction and operation of these facilities.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was amended to limit the discharge of radioactive liquid effluents into ground and surface waters and to protect nuclear facilities from flooding. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 was also amended to limit the discharge of radioactive effluents into ground and surface waters. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 directs NRC to promulgate criteria for the licensing of High-Level Waste geologic repositories.
NRC has responsibility to review DOE submittals up to and including the actual licensing applications. The NRC will then grant a license based upon this review. Although much of the water data submitted to NRC is from previously published sources, some is collected by applicant or licensee monitoring programs. These monitoring programs are reviewed by NRC staff with occasional confirmatory sampling by NRC regional inspection personnel. The periods of record and parameters monitored are site-specific and involve both safety and environmental concerns.
~
The NRC base program for water-data acquisition addresses the overall-licensing programs 'and NRC organizational goals. The NRC program does not involve direct field data collection; rather, it involves review and analysis of data provided by licensees, contractors, and other government agencies.
In order to understand and adequately review hydrologic issues, the NRC has either funded or collaborated with other Federal agencies in funding technical assistance and research contracts. The NRC staff effort involves monitoring the work being performed under contractual agreements with private consultants, national laboratories, universities, and other government agencies.
The NRC short term program plans support licensing activities. The principal topics addressed in both staff analyses and contractor assistance work are ground-water contamination pathway analyses, hydrodynamic measurements, analysis of flood hazards, and hurricane surge monitoring.
In high-level waste management, research projects dealing with ground-water transport tf radionuclides in porous and fractured rocle, unsaturated flow and transport in fractured rock and hydrogeologic site characterization techniques are being 2
e 2
Agency' data needs--base program and changes (1985-1987).
Provide an integrated statement of your water resources responsibilities--what and why.
Also, describe major water data dependencies and relationships with other agencies.
Continued funded. Specific projects for site characterization techniques are ground-water dating, geochemical laboratory and field studies, in-situ geologic and hydrologic measurement verification, and unsaturated zone instrumentation and analysis techniques.
In low-level waste management, studies are concerned with ground-water flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone and related site monitoring techniques in near surface, unconsolidated materials. Stochastic analysis of solute transport in unsaturated soils, site characterization techniques, verification studies at specific low-level waste facilities, quality control of water-data measurements and studies of chemical speciation and mobility are being conducted.
In reactor siting, the greatest use of water data will be in analysis of water data independently collected by the licensees at commercial reactor sites.
These analyses also utilize water data previously collected by the U.S.
Geological Survey and the Corps of Engineers.
Studies of uranium milling and mining facilities, including Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Programs sites, are concerned with methods to minimize ground-water contamination from uranium recovery operations. Model evaluation of seepage from uranium tailing disposal above and below the water table and aquifer restoration at in-situ leach uranium mines involve ground-water flow and transport studies.
l l
l t
3 i
y 3.
Identify and describe any major new legislation, court decisions, or other actions affecting your planned data program for 1987 and beyond.
NONE e
4
I
?
4 Future data needs and plans,1988 and beyond.
Future Data Needs and Plans (1988 and Beyond). The NRC long-term programs dealing with water data and water-data acquisition will evolve to keep pace with the needs of the nuclear industry.
In the area of high-level waste (HLW) management, work will concentrate on environmental and safety assessments including modeling studies for HLW repository sites. Review of hydrologic data and interpreted results by DOE, USGS, and other Federal agency and subcontractor studies of potential HLW sites will involve NRC staff and contractor analysis.
Similarly, low-level waste management work will center on shallow land burial site assessment closure procedures to control and minimize infiltration and the assessment of alternative disposal techniques.
A field validation study of stochastic hydrogeologic methods was recently begun for shallow land burial applications. Work on stochastic methods for assessing the probabilities of severe hydrologic events at nuclear reactor sites has also begun.
Future work will concentrate on enhancement and testing of the developed methodology using selected watershed data.
le S
e 4
5
v.
I Agency Data Needs--Base Procram and Changes (1985-1987). NRC was established by Congress under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. The primary goal of NRC in licensing and regulating nuclear reactors is to assure the health and safety of the public and to protect the environment. Similarly, NRC has the charge of insuring safe, permanent disposal of radioactive wastes by licensing nuclear activities and facilities, and by protecting the public against the hazards of low-level radioactive emissions and releases from the licensed nuclear activities and facilities.
'To accomplish its mission, NRC requires that an applicant for a construction permit and an operating license for a nuclear facility provide a variety of data about the maximum hydrologic events that may potentially affect the safety-related facilities and the site (e.g., hurricanes, river floods, low river flows', dam failures, precipitation, droughts, tsunamis, etc.), assuring an adequate safety-related water supply, and analyzing environmental effects caused by construction and operation of these facilities.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 was amended to limit the discharge of radioactive liquid effluents into ground and surface waters and to protect nuclear facilities froa flooding. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 was also amended to limit the discharge of radioactive effluents into ground and surtace waters. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 directs NRC to promulgate criteria for the licensing of High-Level Waste geologic repositories. NRC has responsibility to review DOE submittals up to and including the actual licensing applications. The NRC will then grant a license based upon this review. Although much of the water data submitted to NRC is from previously published sources, some is collected by applicant or licensee monitoring programs. These monitoring programs are rrviewed by NRC staff with occasional confirmatory sampling by NRC regional irspection personnel. The periods of record and parameters monitored are site-specific and invalve both safety and environmental concerns.
The NRC base program for water-data acquisition addresses the overall licensing prog' rams and NRC organizational goals. The NRC program does not involve direct field data collection; rather, it involves review and analysis of data provided by licensees, contractors, and other government agencies.
In order to understand and adequately review hydrologic issues, the NRC has either funded or collaborated with other Federal agencies in funding technical assistance and research contracts. The NRC staff effort involves monitoring the work being performed under contractual agreements with private consultants, national laboratories, universities, and othar government agencies.
The NBC short term program plans support licensing activities. The principal topics addressed in both staff analyses and contractor assistance work are ground-water contamination pathway analyses, hydrodynamic measurements, analysis of flood hazards, and hurricane surge monitoring.
In high-level waste management, research projects dealing with ground-water transport of radionuclides in porous and fractured rock, unsaturated finw and transport in fractured rock and hydrogeologic site characterization tecnniques are being 6
^
G.
Continued funded. Specific projects for site characterization techniques are ground-water dating, geochemical laboratory and field studies, in-situ geologic and hydrologic measurement verification, and unsaturated zone instrumentation and analysis techniques.
In low-level waste management, studies are concerned with ground-water flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone and related site monitoring techniques in near surface, unconsolidated materials. Stochastic an: lysis of solute transport in unsaturated soils, site characterization techniques, verification studies at specific low-level waste facilities, quality control of water-data measurements and studies of chemical speciation and mobility are being conducted.
In reactor siting, the greatest use of water data will be in analysis of water data independently collected by the licensees at commercial reactor sites.
These analyses also utilize water data previously collected by the U.S.
Geological Survey and the Corps of Engineers.
Studies of uranium milling and mining facilities, including Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Programs sites, are concerned with methods to minimize ground-water contamination from uranium recovery operations. Model evaluation of seepage from uranium tailing disposal above and below the water table and aquifer restoration at in-situ leach uranium mines involve ground-water flow and transport studies.
.4 0
e 7
es-Future Data Needs and Plans (1988 and Beyond). The NRC long-term programs l
dealing with water data and water-data acquisition will evolve to keep pace with the needs of the nuclear industry.
In the area of high-level waste (HLW) management, work will concentrate on environmental and safety assessments including modeling studies for HLW repository sites. Review of hydrologic data and interpreted results by DOE, U563, and other Federal agency and subcontractor studies of potential HLW sites will involve NRC staff and contractor analysis. Similarly, low-level waste management work will center on shallow land burial site assessment closure procedures to control and minimize infiltration and the assessment of alternative disposal techniques.
A field validation study of stochastic hydrogeologic methods was recently begun for shallow land burial applications. Work on stochastic methods for assessing the probabilities of severe hydrologic events at nuclear reactor sites has alto begun.
Future work will concentrate on enhancement and testing of the developed methodology using selected watershed data.
o i
8
-